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Friday, February 09, 2007
Doc: D. Brown's prognosis optimistic
Bucknell forward Donald brown is hoping to return from his broken hand in as little as three weeks. A doctor with serious sports medicine credentials says that is "extremely optimistic."

Brown suffered the injury, a break of the third metacarpal bone in his right, shooting, hand, when he was fouled going to the basket during Bucknell's Jan. 30 win at Colgate. Doctors operated two days later, placing pins in the bone to speed the healing. brown has also been fitted with an electronic bone growth stimulator to help speed the healing.

If it were you or I, Bucknell coach Pat Flannery said last week after the Navy game, doctors would place the hand in a cast that would come off when it healed, probably in about two months.

Brown is not you or I, though. He is his team's leading scorer and the league's leading rebounder. Beyond his value to the team, he is a senior playing a final season that will be long over in two months. Thus the extra measures the doctors are taking to get him back on the floor. Aftyer the Navy game, Brown said he hoped to be back in three weeks.

"With elite athletes, using aggressive techniques for rehabilitation is not unreasonable," says Dr. Benjamin Wedro, a board certified emergency physician who practices in a regional trauma center in La Crosse,Wisconsin.

When he is not working the emergency room in La Crosse, Wedro can often be found providing care and medical expertise at major sporting events worldwide. Wedro]has been a presence at Olympic Games including Albertville, Lillehammer, Nagano, Salt Lake City, Athens and Turin, providing on-site medical care and medical background information for both CBS and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

According to Wedro, the normal recovery time for an injury such as Brown's is at least four to six weeks.

"Three weeks is very optimistic," Wedro says. "I think that is unlikely."

Especially since it is Brown's shooting hand, which means the amount of padding or protection he ca wear is limited.

"If it were the non-shooting hand, it would be different," says Wedro.

For those who dig watching Discovery Health channel and the like, here is a little of Wedro's technical take on Brown's situation:
Second or third metacarpal fractures are treated a little differently than the others and are more often surgically fixed with pins. The recovery time is 4-6 weeks or until there is evidence of healing on X-ray. These two metacarpals are fixed and form the skeleton of the hand and are not allowed to shorten or rotate when healing. Fourth and Fifth metacarpals "float" (check your own hand and see how you can move them) and can tolerate some shortening when they heal and still allow the ring and little fingers to have normal function. Only small amounts of angulation (less than 10 degrees) are acceptable in the second and third metacarpals. The fourth and fifth finger metacarpals can accept angulation of 20 and 30 degrees.

Different types of operations can be used from routine pinning to using small
plates and screws. There is also a type of pinning called "boutique pinning"
where small pins are placed through the inside of the bone and can be left in
place. The thought is that activity can be started even sooner.

Use of bone stimulators is relatively common, but more often in longer bones.
Wedro says use of such devices for smaller bones is a relatively new concept, but soem recent studies have supported the concept.

Each case is different, Wedro cautions. He provided the information without the benefit of having examined Brown or seeing Browbn's X-rays. Brown's doctors are likely taking weekly X-rays to check the progress of the healing.

"It sounds like they are giving him the best chance of getting back they can," Wedro says.
  • Dr. Wedro's MD Direct site
  • Brown visualizing return to Bison (Daily Item)

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